50% by 2030 Community Climate Action & Resiliency Plan

Commitment to a Community Climate Action & Resiliency Plan is an integral step in moving towards our Sustainable Dubuque vision. The 50% by 2030 Plan, adopted in 2013, and updated in 2020, is a non-binding, voluntary effort to identify opportunities to reduce Dubuque’s community greenhouse gas emissions. It can be used in the following ways:

• Informing officials during goal-setting and budget decisions,
• Informing businesses and individuals about potential emission and cost-saving options,
• Showcasing success stories,
• Providing a roadmap that can be added to or adjusted, and
• Exposing from where Dubuque’s GHG emissions really come.

Working towards implementation of the recommendations will lead to a more resilient community, improved health, economic prosperity, and improved quality of life.

In 2010 Council adopted the Dubuque Greenhouse Gas Inventory, the first step in developing a Climate Action Plan (CAP) for Dubuque. The inventory measures gases emitted by City operations for the baseline year 2003, and again for 2007, and predicts future emissions if we continue in a “business as usual” way, and gives the City a tool to set emission reduction targets to improve and maintain healthy air quality.

Access the full greenhouse gas inventory and the 50% by 2030 Community Climate Action & Resiliency Plan.  Dubuque's Climate Vulnerability Assessment is an important look at future climate changes specific to Dubuque and our related vulnerabilities. 

A 2014 update revealed that the community had reduced their GHG emissions 11% since 2003. The 2019 update reports a 27% reduction in GHG emissions since 2003.